In my meetings with worship leaders in the past weeks, there is much questioning about what we can do for Christmas this year. With all the social distancing, concerns about large groups singing, etc., it certainly cramps the usual Christmas presentations.
You don’t need to shutter Christmas just because of a pandemic! Think outside the box and come up with ways to really celebrate this season. Here are a few things to get your creative juices going. Please add to the comments ways you have determined to move forward with Christmas music celebrations to share with others. There is so much we can learn from each other these days.
- Bring back a musical you have done in the past that won’t require lots of rehearsing.
- Create a way to present much of the musical with solos, duets, small ensembles, etc.
- Pick two or more pieces to put together virtual choir numbers. With this, a few live singers can begin the song in person, to be joined by the masses in the virtual choir on screen and in the house audio. This can be extremely powerful while negating some of the risks.
- Utilize the arts in many ways with monologue, drama, readings, Bible reading, and more.
- If you have handbells, you can have each player have two bells at a music stand, spaced out in a safe distance and playing songs that can be achieved without table effects or bell changes.
- Make use of Zoom (or other platform) rehearsals to learn the music.
- Do an outdoor nativity with a few choral numbers outside where singing is safer.
Don’t shrink back! Find a way to make this Christmas special. Our people may need it more than ever. Here are some resources to help.
How to Create a Virtual Choir (Band, Praise Team, Orchestra) Video
What ideas would you share with us?
Due to the spike in new cases and hospitalizations in a number of states and counties across the United States a number of these ideas may contribute to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in a community. Gyms, restaurants, cafes, and places of worship have been identified as places of high risk for the transmission of the virus for a variety of reasons. In deciding how are going to celebrate Christmas in your church and your community, you need to weigh how your plans may facilitate the spread of the virus and modify them accordingly. For example, if a household is a musical one, the household might go caroling in a neighborhood instead of members of different households going caroling together. A well-lighted nativity scene with Christmas carols playing over a loudspeaker, which families can drive past in their cars is a safe way of celebrating Christmas. Different households might be invited to sing a Christmas carol and read a part of the Christmas story on Zoom from their homes and the whole thing recorded and broadcast online. There are innumerable ways that we can celebrate Jesus’s birth. Remember Christmas is not one day but a whole season, lasting from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Night. Videos of different Christmas customs can be posted on the church website, for the Irish custom of placing a lit candle in a window to welcome the Christ Child on Christmas Eve.
I’m getting families to sing together. I’m getting people who can utilize at least one harmony line with the melody. It makes a presentation Safe to sing beside each other while promoting multigenerational worship.